Climate Change and Press Freedom Fellow

Committee to Protect Journalists•New York, NY

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

Across the world, environmental journalists pursue stories on corporate interests, organized crime networks, political corruption, and human rights violations. They narrate the human cost of wildfires and the landslides drowning cities, and document vanishing livelihoods, climate-induced migration, and the brewing conflicts over water. As a result, journalists face legal harassment, physical threats and violence, and in the most extreme cases, death. It is increasingly clear as climate change and its effects intersect with virtually every issue that everyone is a climate reporter now - and the crisis is urgent. In response to this new reality, the Committee to Protect Journalists launched its Climate Crisis Journalist Protection Initiative to ensure that journalists reporting on climate issues are able to do so freely and safely. The Climate Change and Press Freedom Fellowship is a crucial program to power this work. CPJ’s Global Advocacy team is seeking a Climate Change and Press Freedom Fellow to engage in rigorous research and analysis work that can inform the organization’s strategy to address how the climate crisis is impacting media freedom and individual journalists’ ability to report freely and safely. The Fellow will play a vital role in defining CPJ’s agenda on advocacy and safety responses to the threats and reprisals faced by journalists reporting on climate change and other environmental issues. During the year-long engagement, the Fellow would produce a series of outputs, including in-depth research, a landscape analysis as well as internal and external briefing materials, talking points and/or articles. The Fellowship is an opportunity to make a substantial contribution to developing CPJ’s work to support the freedom and safety of journalists reporting on climate change and other environmental issues. If hired within the United States, this position will be part of a collective bargaining unit represented by the Writers Guild of America, East.

Requirements

A deep, demonstrated interest in and knowledge of press freedom, journalism and climate change; familiarity with corruption, corporate accountability mechanisms and local reporting dynamics is desirable.
Demonstrated experience working on climate change/environmental issues.
Critical thinker with exceptional research and writing; meticulous attention to accuracy and detail.
Ability to work independently and collaboratively across teams, including with remote management and staff across time zones.
Fluency in English and, ideally, another language such as Spanish or French.
Proficient in Google Workspace

Responsibilities

Develop and execute original research and policy analysis to assess the nexus between climate change issues and media freedom and identify the most salient areas that would benefit from advocacy and safety interventions.
Conduct a landscape analysis anchored in a cross-regional assessment of CPJ’s 30+ years of data on journalists threatened due to their work on climate related stories as well as other existing research; develop a set of recommended approaches for CPJ.
Conduct a global survey with local environmental journalists in key communities in order to document and classify threats they face, including digital ones, and their safety needs; identify thru-lines to areas with high levels of corruption and the presence of industries or non-state actors or other salient issues that may benefit from structural responses.
Identify potential partnerships or opportunities for CPJ advocacy and engagement on climate change and press freedom issues.
Convene roundtables and regional meetings with civil society, local newsrooms, journalists, and support networks to explore advocacy and/or protective strategies.
Draft/produce public materials; help to organize and support events (public or private) to advance CPJ’s positioning on climate change related issues.
Contribute to CPJ’s knowledge base and capacity building in the area of climate change and press freedom.

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